Woods won his second TPC career title

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — In the afterglow of a hard-earned win on a golf course where he traditionally had struggled, Tiger Woods uttered words that cast a chill over his competition.

“I’m getting better,” he said.

The one and only time Woods won The Players Championship — in 2001 — he was in the midst of the most-dominant stretch in the game’s history. Following Sunday’s two-shot victory in the PGA Tour’s showcase event, Woods looks primed to produce another stretch of incomparable golf following a three-year period when many wondered if he ever would return to the top of the game.

Woods carded a final round 2-under par 70 Sunday in windy, dry conditions to reach four victories on Tour at the earliest point of career. This from a player with eight seasons of five wins or more.

But Woods’ latest win — and 78th overall on Tour — was in doubt until he made par on the daunting par-4 18th hole, playing into a stiff wind.

Afterward, Woods said he had made Mother’s Day tougher on his mom, Kultida, when he hooked his tee shot into the water on the par-4 14th hole to lose a two-shot lead with a double bogey.

“She might have had a heart attack,” Woods joked.

Woods, however, was undaunted and continued his high level of play the rest of the way. The world’s No. 1 player was 1-under par on the final three holes, while his primary challengers could not keep up on the stretch that usually determines the Players champion.

“A lot of things can go wrong on the last three holes,” Woods said. “Anything can happen.”

Still, no one could have predicted the fate of Sergio Garcia.

Tied with Woods at 13-under par when he stepped to the tee at the 135-yard, par-3 17th hole,

Garcia was in position to put the pressure on his longtime rival and get the final word after the two players exchanged verbal barbs following their third-round pairing.

Instead, Garcia collapsed, as he has done before in pressure-packed situations on golf’s biggest stages. He hit two balls into the water on his way to a quadruple-bogey 7.

“Just needed to hit it a little bit harder, maybe a little too confident,” said Garcia, one of the best iron players of his generation. “That hole has been good to me for the most part. Today, it wasn’t.”

But TPC Sawgrass wasn’t finished with Garcia, who stiffed his tee shot to four feet to win the 2008 Players in a playoff.

The 33-year-old Spaniard hit his tee shot on the 18th hole into the water to card a double-bogey and fall into a tie for eighth place.

“It’s always nice to have a chance at beating the No. 1 player in the world,” he said. “But unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to this week.”

Other players had their opportunities to catch Woods. But other than Garcia none had better chances than 49-year-old Tour veteran Jeff Maggert and 25-year-old Tour rookie David Lingmerth.

One of the better ballstrikers on Tour for two decades, Maggert dunked his tee shot in the water at No. 17. When Maggert made a birdie from 2.5 feet on No. 18, it was too late, but he did lock up his 16th career runner-up finish on Tour.

“A wrong shot at the wrong time and you get penalized on this golf course,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, Lingmerth could not pull off the right shot when he needed it. He missed a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 17 and hit his 178-yard approach shot on No. 18 more than 73 feet from the hole and would make bogey.

Lingmerth tied for second place and walked away with the largest check of his young career, $709,333.

Woods walked away with golf’s biggest prize — $1.71 million — but has his sights set on bigger things. The win moved him within four of Sam Snead’s record 82 wins.

All that is left now is a major championship.

Next month, Woods’ will return to the U.S. Open on the five-year anniversary of his last major, looking to add to his total of 14.

Given Woods’ past few months, Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 majors does seem as safe as it did not long ago.

“Am I surprised? No,” Woods said after his win Sunday. “I know a lot of people thought I was done. But I’m not.”